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More K-12 Students Learning Online

By Dr. Marciene Mattleman

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) - A sidebar in Education Week using material developed from Evergreen Education Group drew my attention on how blended learning programs, those that use face-to-face and online instruction as curriculum practice, and the numbers of those in cyber programs have grown. They were startling!

Three hundred-ten thousand students are enrolled in fully online schools serving students from multiple districts, an increase of 13% over last year and 740,000 students are enrolled in state virtual schools in 26 states.

There are ups and downs. Enrollment grew in some state virtual schools - Alabama, Georgia and Montana by at least 17% and fell by at least 13% in Colorado, Connecticut and Iowa.

Eight states allow private and home-schooled students to take part in state-backed supplemental online courses; 21 states don't offer that option. The remaining states make accommodations so that private and home-schooled students can pay fees for online courses.

The teacher no longer always stands at the front of the room!

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